Spring 2015 - Special Topics

ART 3040 DMWA - Making a Mark: Artists, Collectives, and Institutions Constructing Visibility in New York City
This course will explore how, from the 1960s to the present, individual artists and art collectives tested the authority of New York City cultural institutions. We will examine traditional painting, sculpture and prints as well as the emerging formats of graffiti, photography, video and site-specific installations looking at art that relates overtly to identity in the context of the larger questions of race, sexuality, religion, history, and politics. We will also examine alternative art spaces that offered sites for experimentation for artists to innovate, perform, and exhibit outside the commercial gallery-and-museum circuit some of which led to the establishment of El Museo del Barrio, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, and the Museum of Chinese in America. The course includes several on-site visits to museums and exhibitions as well as guest speakers.

ART 3041 HTRA - Making it Work: Design, Photography and Art as Social Practice
Some artists, designers and photographers create projects that crossover into the public and/or social realm. These critical interventions are often created with a specific audience in mind or are meant to inspire debate and/or catalyze social exchange. The course is project-based: all students will participate in the development of viable projects that deal with issues important to the common good. Students will be introduced to the work of artists and designers whose practice is in part or whole involved with social practice. The course can be applied as an elective toward the Graphic Communication major or minor as well as the Photography or NMA minors.

BLS 3085 BTRA - US-Latin American Relations
News about issues ranging from the War on Drugs to undocumented migration reminds us of the importance of understanding the long historical relationship between Latin America and the United States. The course will examine how the United States engaged with Latin American countries in both constructive and conflicting ways beginning with both regions’ rocky emergence as post-colonial nations in the nineteenth century and continuing with Manifest Destiny, Gunboat Diplomacy, the Good Neighbor Policy, Cold War revolutions and coups, and concluding with current hemispheric debates about drugs, trade, and environment. We will focus on how the United States, often confident of its political, economic, and cultural superiority, sought to influence Latin America. We will also examine how Latin Americans rejected, influenced, or modified these efforts and affected change in the United States. Students will complete two take-home writing assignments, a final exam, and smaller in-class presentations and discussions about weekly topics and current events.

BLS 3085 URA - The Urban Education of Blacks and Latinos in New York and Abroad
A survey of sociological, psychological, and educational needs and experiences of urban Black and Latino children in New York City schools. Special emphasis will be given to family, gender, race relations, community living, and other social dynamics of this group. Practical experience and research will be a part of this course.

COM 4101 ETRA - Gender, Ethnicity, and Race in Communication
The goal of this course is to foster critical understanding of the representation of cultures in media and communication. Students will analyze visual and textual mass communication as well as interpersonal interactions in order to determine how gender, race, ethnicity, and other facets of culture appear and are negotiated within communicative contexts. Class themes include the relationship of communication to cultural norms, the social construction of difference, the implications of mediated cultural metaphors and stereotypes, and the consequences of the underrepresentation of some cultural groups in mass media. Course materials will include both scholarly and popular texts; students will engage with a range of readings from the humanities and social sciences, and with cultural narratives that appear within films, television, advertising, journalism, and social media.

COM 4101 FMWA - Leadership and Organizations
This course examines the theoretical frameworks, empirical case studies, and cutting-edge debates concerning organizations in international development. The course will be divided into three parts. First, we will explore the theoretical perspectives in International Development and Organizational Communication scholarship to understand inter- and intra-organizational communication. Second, using theoretical texts, social media, films, and organization publications, we will explore the ways that organizations have conceptualized and implemented international development projects. Third, each student will select an organization working in one or more of the various fields of international development including economic development, environmental protection, market regulation, security, democratization, and human rights. Each student will then write a short case study of their chosen organization that applies course concepts to in instance of inter-or intra-organizational communication.
By reflecting on both the transformative potentials and limitations of organizations working in international development, this course addresses the following questions: How do international development organizations differ from other organizations? How do international development organizations foster development initiatives and goals? What role do international development organizations play in global politics? How do international development organizations identify and shape interests and identities? Why do international development organizations fail? How have communication scholars analyzed and participated in international development organizations?

COM 4101 FMWB - Organizations in International Development
This course is about effective and ineffective leadership. Using narratives -- fiction, films, and history -- it will explore ways leaders can inspire and guide their organizations, cope with competing interests and conflicting values, and maintain their energy and integrity. It will ask how power and authority are best acquired, how and why they are so often abused, and how supporters and even opponents can shape what leaders do.

COM 4101 MTA – Contemporary Issues in Digital Media
This course examines the role of computers and digital media in contemporary culture within larger histories of technological and social change and the ways in which personal and collective identities are shaped by emerging media technologies. Topics include open source culture, media art practices, user-generated content and digital labor, surveillance, cyber-activism, intellectual property, and the impact of social media.

COM 4101 PTRA - Gender, Ethnicity, and Race in Communication
The goal of this course is to foster critical understanding of the representation of cultures in media and communication. Students will analyze visual and textual mass communication as well as interpersonal interactions in order to determine how gender, race, ethnicity, and other facets of culture appear and are negotiated within communicative contexts. Class themes include the relationship of communication to cultural norms, the social construction of difference, the implications of mediated cultural metaphors and stereotypes, and the consequences of the underrepresentation of some cultural groups in mass media. Course materials will include both scholarly and popular texts; students will engage with a range of readings from the humanities and social sciences, and with cultural narratives that appear within films, television, advertising, journalism, and social media.

COM 4101 UMA - Markets, Media and Meaning
How does the language of money shape the world in which we live? In this course, we will try to understand the market economy as a form of communication. We will think about the ways economic activities inform, persuade, invent, coerce, reward, punish, judge, bring people together and divide them against each other. To do this, we will examine a variety of examples from popular culture, including movies, TV shows and news stories. Assignments will include short papers and a creative group project.

COM 4900 AMWA - Studies in Language and Social Interaction
This course introduces an ethnographic approach to language and interpersonal communication. Such an approach tries to understand the bases for social relations and social interaction based on the observation of, and the participation in, actual instances of interpersonal communication. Concerns of face, speech acts, person-referring forms, terms for talk, relational dialectics, narrative, and rules and norms are introduced as theoretical frameworks for the analysis of interpersonal communication. We will turn our attention to moments of intercultural communication since different cultural communicative patterns for interpersonal communication are active there. These often result in miscommunication, negative stereotyping, injustices, discrimination, and the like.

COM 4900 CMWA - Research Strategies in Communication
This class explores quantitative research methodology and its possibilities for creating insights into the study of communication. Throughout class and lab deliberations you should be asking this question: How do issues of research and methodology connect with the real world issues I confront in processes of intrapersonal communication, interpersonal communication, small group communication, mass mediated communication, public communication, and intercultural communication? To begin, some general orientations to research methodology within the discipline of communication studies will be discussed. The overall organization gives special attention to techniques of quantitative data analysis and asks: how are interpretive claims theoretically guided and formulated on the basis of empirical data? Whether you are, or hope to be working in a communication related industry, you will need to be competent and professional consumers and creators of information. Data analysis is the art of examining, summarizing, and drawing conclusions from data. Within the discipline of communication studies, knowing the right questions to ask, and how to best answer them, are important features of this research process.

COM 4900 EMWA - Conflict Resolution
This course explores conflict resolution in interpersonal, intergroup, intercultural, and international communication. Topics include causes and manifestations of conflict, the concept of emotional intelligence, effects of violence in the media, interpersonal conflict resolution techniques, non-violence and peace education, sources of intercultural conflict and intercultural conflict management styles, as well as current international conflicts and resolution efforts.

COM 4900 FMWA - Conflict Resolution
This course explores conflict resolution in interpersonal, intergroup, intercultural, and international communication. Topics include causes and manifestations of conflict, the concept of emotional intelligence, effects of violence in the media, interpersonal conflict resolution techniques, non-violence and peace education, sources of intercultural conflict and intercultural conflict management styles, as well as current international conflicts and resolution efforts.

COM 4900 FTRA - Internal Communication
This course introduces students to the role and value of strategic internal communications within today’s global business organizations. The course reviews the evolution of the practice from a one-way internal communications model to a valuable, strategic business function impacting organizational effectiveness. Special topics in internal communications will be explored, such as internal branding, the CEO’s role in the internal communications process, the importance of research as the foundation for communications strategy development, and effective methods of communicating with employees during change situations. We will also discuss challenges and issues communicators face in trying to reach employees at all levels and examine strategies and tools for developing a united, engaged and productive workforce.

COM 4900 UMA - Communicating as a Situational Leader
This course is designed to close the skills gap in leadership and communication identified by employers in the past few years. Those skills are: Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration/Teamwork, and Leadership. Students will learn about several leadership, interpersonal and group communication theories while practicing how to communicate as a leader in various situations. While we will study several leadership theories, the main focus of the course will be to master situational leadership theory from a communication perspective. Students will have an opportunity to compare and contrast aspects of the theories while also applying what they've learned to various workplace settings.

COM 4900 URA - Conflict Resolution
This course explores conflict resolution in interpersonal, intergroup, intercultural, and international communication. Topics include causes and manifestations of conflict, the concept of emotional intelligence, effects of violence in the media, interpersonal conflict resolution techniques, non-violence and peace education, sources of intercultural conflict and intercultural conflict management styles, as well as current international conflicts and resolution efforts.

COM 9660 - From Plato to Twitter: A History of Influence, Media and Public Attitudes
While the profession of public relations is only a century old, man has been practicing the art of influencing public attitudes since the dawn of civilization. In fact, looking back at world history through the lens of public relations, one can see how many of the events that have changed the course of history were triggered through campaigns to influence attitudes, opinions and behaviors. And while the channels may have evolved through the years-- from stone tablets and papyrus scrolls to Tumblr and Instagram-- the underlying magic of influencing opinion is still the same: understanding human behavior. This is as true for today's practitioner conducting a You Tube campaign as it was for Thomas Paine to hand out pamphlets. In order to shape attitudes and ultimately, change behavior, the public relations professional today still must build credibility with his audience, appeal to its emotions, and build up a logical case with facts. In fact, this very formula-- ethos, pathos and logos-- came from Aristotle himself, 2500 years before the field of "public relations" was born. By studying the strategies behind the most successful campaigns of the past--- the ones that influenced societies to seek independence, adopt new religions, or even buy Ivory Soap--we can better understand how best to build successful public relations campaigns today.

ENG 3940 UMA – Revolutionary Film: Interwar Europe through Cinema
The period from the end of World War I to the outbreak of World War II witnessed political, cultural, and artistic revolution across Europe. This course examines this explosive period through the most revolutionary artistic medium of the era: film. Through film we will explore how artists across Europe attempted to make sense of the foundational events of the period, including the Russian Revolutions, the interwar sexual revolution, the Great Depression, and the Rise of Fascism. Among the topics encountered in these magnificent movies: gangsters, prostitutes, and the criminal underworld; vampires, vagabonds, and vamps; racism, anti-Semitism, and interwar anti-racist movements; and science fiction dystopias, mad scientists, and sleepwalking psycho murderers. Throughout, we focus on how films grappled with questions of changing class, sexual, and racial relations in a period marked by violent political revolution and massive social upheaval. There will be weekly in-class film viewings. Popcorn is not included.

ENG 3950 BTRA - Careers in Cultural Production
In this course, we will investigate various spheres of cultural production, including the publishing, music, movie, and new media industries, in order to examine the social purposes they serve, the values they disseminate, and the political structures they either support or challenge. We will begin by trying to understand exactly what we mean by “culture” broadly speaking. Most of us imagine ourselves as coming from a particular culture; some of us view ourselves as cultured, but we’re not always clear on what exactly we mean by this term. What is culture? Do we know it when we see it? How? What distinguishes “high” culture, i.e. classical music, great works of literature, and art exhibitions, from “low” culture, i.e. pop music, Hollywood movies, and video games. Is one necessarily better than the other? Why exactly?

After considering “culture” as a general concept, we will consider how specific forms of culture operate. During the semester, we will be focusing on culture from the perspective not only of its critics, but also of its producers. This course aims to help prepare students to enter various cultural fields, including journalism, publishing, music production, and web design—on the assumption that developing a critical attitude toward a particular field can only serve to improve one’s work within that field. Students will be invited to consider both how, practically speaking, they might contribute to a particular cultural sphere and why they might do so: what values, what social purposes, what broader ideals their work might serve.

ENG 3950 ETRA - Topics in Literature: Aestheticism and Decadence: Oscar Wilde and hisContexts“The truth,” Oscar Wilde once quipped, “is rarely pure and never simple.” This witticism aptly describes both Wilde’s own life—he was a husband and father who was eventually imprisoned for “gross indecency with other male persons”—and his life’s work: essays, poems, plays, and fiction that have made him one of the most widely read and translated authors in the English language. In this course, we consider the life and literature of Oscar Wilde within the context of late-Victorian England, renowned as much for its scandalous challenges to the status quo as for its excessive concern for propriety. Wilde’s own challenges came in the form of such works as the comic masterpieces The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband, his essay on literature “The Decay of Lying,” and his only novel, published to outrage and protest in 1890, The Picture of Dorian Gray. In addition to reading these works, we investigate the Aesthetic and Decadent movements in late-century arts and culture, the public scandal surrounding Wilde’s infamous court trials, and Wilde’s enduring legacy, including popular contemporary works such as Moisés Kaufman’s off-Broadway hit Gross Indecency, Neil Bartlett’s homage Who Was That Man?, and the acclaimed 1997 Hollywood film Wilde.

ENG 3950 FMWA - Mystery and Melodrama
Against a background of haunted castles, demonic predators, and victims who unconsciously collaborate in their own ruin, Gothic literature takes us on a journey into the dark recesses of the human psyche that fascinated Freud, and examines its insatiable appetite for danger and forbidden pleasure. We will see how Victorian medical attitudes towards the body forced the female writer of the Gothic novel to create erotically coded texts which psychologists are still unraveling today. Readings will include Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea about fatal passion, sexual addiction, voodoo priestesses, and mad Creole heiresses on an exotic Caribbean island, Mary Shelley’s masterpiece of monstrous creation, Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s novel of voluptuous terror, Dracula, and Nikolai Gogol’s haunting stories of shape-changing goddesses and enchanted forests set in the tantalizing beauty of Russia.

ENG 3950 PTRA - Jane Austen
This course will examine Jane Austen’s role in the history of the novel and consider her enduring popularity. In novels like Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, Austen opened up new possibilities for the novel as a literary form. We will focus on close readings that highlight Austen’s literary experimentation (with, for example, free indirect style, the marriage plot, and psychological characterization) and social commentary (on issues such as the legal status of women, the transatlantic slave trade, and the French revolution). We will read each of Austen’s six published novels along with excerpts from contemporary literary and political texts, critical commentary, and popular adaptations. Students will be expected to complete short response papers, a presentation, and a final essay.

HIS 3360 UMA – Revolutionary Film: Interwar Europe through Cinema
The period from the end of World War I to the outbreak of World War II witnessed political, cultural, and artistic revolution across Europe. This course examines this explosive period through the most revolutionary artistic medium of the era: film. Through film we will explore how artists across Europe attempted to make sense of the foundational events of the period, including the Russian Revolutions, the interwar sexual revolution, the Great Depression, and the Rise of Fascism. Among the topics encountered in these magnificent movies: gangsters, prostitutes, and the criminal underworld; vampires, vagabonds, and vamps; racism, anti-Semitism, and interwar anti-racist movements; and science fiction dystopias, mad scientists, and sleepwalking psycho murderers. Throughout, we focus on how films grappled with questions of changing class, sexual, and racial relations in a period marked by violent political revolution and massive social upheaval. There will be weekly in-class film viewings. Popcorn is not included.

HIS 3460 BMWA - Naval Battles that Changed the Course of History
The course examines how naval warfare has shaped the history of nations, empires, and the world from classical antiquity to World War II and beyond. Using a broad variety of primary and secondary sources, students will review political, technological, and strategic contexts, examine events on the battlefield, and explore the long-term results of major naval battles from Salamis, Greece in 480 BC to the Battle of Midway in 1942."

HIS 3460 EMWA - America in the Eighties
This course will focus on the major political, economic, and cultural trends that defined the 1980s in the United States. While the administration of Ronald Reagan will be a dominant organizing theme, the course will also take a wider look at American life in the context of rising Cold War tensions, conservative backlash, economic crises, and popular culture's growing fascination with technology. Topics may include the infamous air traffic controllers strike (which dramatically re-arranged social and political attitudes towards labor unions), the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars"), the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment (a landmark moment in the evolution of feminism), the changing legacy of the Vietnam War, the controversial 1988 presidential election, and the popularization of new musical forms like punk and hip hop. Coursework will include readings (books and articles), in-class discussions of film and media, writing exercises, and a final paper.

HIS 3860 BTRA - US-Latin American Relations
News about issues ranging from the War on Drugs to undocumented migration reminds us of the importance of understanding the long historical relationship between Latin America and the United States. The course will examine how the United States engaged with Latin American countries in both constructive and conflicting ways beginning with both regions’ rocky emergence as post-colonial nations in the nineteenth century and continuing with Manifest Destiny, Gunboat Diplomacy, the Good Neighbor Policy, Cold War revolutions and coups, and concluding with current hemispheric debates about drugs, trade, and environment. We will focus on how the United States, often confident of its political, economic, and cultural superiority, sought to influence Latin America. We will also examine how Latin Americans rejected, influenced, or modified these efforts and affected change in the United States. Students will complete two take-home writing assignments, a final exam, and smaller in-class presentations and discussions about weekly topics and current events.IDC 4050H MTH - Darwin at Issue: What Is and what Isn’t Natural about Darwinian Evolution
Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species (1859) was a turning point in the way we see the world and our place in it. In this seminar we will develop an understanding of what Darwin did (and did not) propose, as well as an appreciation for what was (and continues to be) revolutionary about his ideas. We will discuss Darwin’s significance for 19th century biology and philosophy, consider his contribution to the “modern synthesis” of evolution, genetics, and paleontology in the 20th century, and detect how Darwin’s ideas influence contemporary science, policy, and the business of living.

IDC 4050H NRH - Nuestra America: Identities, Languages, Literature, and Society
This seminar examines the Latin American identity from a Latin American perspective. Through the writings of scholars, writers and political thinkers, starting with the post-independence period of nation formation in the nineteenth century up to the present day, we will focus on the relations between language and identity, as well as the interrelation between identity and cultural, historical and political events. Although the amalgamation of languages, cultures and ethnicities precedes the arrival of the Europeans, only now is there a recognition of indigenous and regional languages as marks of ethnic and cultural identities. The seminar will address the current trend toward interregional integration happening south of the border, accelerated by globalization. It will also acknowledge the inclusion and participation in public debate of previously silent voices of women and indigenous communities. THE COURSE WILL BE CONDUCTED ENTIRELY IN SPANISH AND MAY BE USED TOWARD CREDIT REQUIREMENTS FOR MAJORS AND MINORS IN SPANISH.

IDC 4050H BMWH - Workers of the World, Unite! Histories of the Global Left
This course explores the global history of communism and the political left. It begins by considering the rise of competing theories of socialism and communism as a response to the crises of early capitalism and excesses of the Industrial Revolution. We then follow major developments in the ideas and ideologies of Communism globally, focusing on four specific case studies: the Paris Commune, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Chinese Revolution, and the August Revolution in Vietnam. Through these cases, we will investigate how ideas and practices of Communism changed as they traveled through time and across cultures. In addition to reading foundational writings by (among others) Karl Marx, Mikhail Bakunin, Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh, we will also explore the relationship between politics and culture under various Communist regimes. Through avant-garde film, revolutionary poetry and prose, Constructivist and Socialist Realist art, music, clothing, propaganda ephemera and other forms of cultural production, we will seek to understand how Communist regimes sought to realize their revolutionary dreams in everyday practice. Finally, we conclude by considering the failure of actually existing socialisms, as well as the question of the enduring relevance of Marxian critiques of global capitalism in the 21st century.

JRN 3600 NW - The Real World: The Art of Creative Nonfiction
This workshop will be taught by Elif Batuman, author of The Possessed:Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.
“How do you write about the real world? How do you find out what it really is? How do you tell a story, once you have one? How do you know what the story is? How much do you belong in the story you’re telling? How do you write about the world and yourself at the same time, without getting in the way of the picture? And what about privacy? Where does your story end, and the next person’s begin? How important is factual accuracy? What freedoms does it buy, and what sacrifices does it demand?
We will be reading and writing about the real world in a variety of modes: creative nonfiction, reporting, documentary fiction, and the nonfiction novel (novels in which the author and the main character share the same name and basic life circumstances). Our reading will include Vivian Gornick, Joan Didion, Janet Malcolm, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and Chris Kraus.

JRN 3600H NWH - (Honors) The Real World: The Art of Creative Nonfiction
This workshop will be taught by Elif Batuman, author of The Possessed:Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.
“How do you write about the real world? How do you find out what it really is? How do you tell a story, once you have one? How do you know what the story is? How much do you belong in the story you’re telling? How do you write about the world and yourself at the same time, without getting in the way of the picture? And what about privacy? Where does your story end, and the next person’s begin? How important is factual accuracy? What freedoms does it buy, and what sacrifices does it demand?
We will be reading and writing about the real world in a variety of modes: creative nonfiction, reporting, documentary fiction, and the nonfiction novel (novels in which the author and the main character share the same name and basic life circumstances). Our reading will include Vivian Gornick, Joan Didion, Janet Malcolm, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and Chris Kraus.

JRN 3900 EFA - Writing about Your Life and Others': Memoir, Biography and Autobiography/hybrid
This course will meet for one 75-minute session on Friday. In lieu of another scheduled class session, students will work online to comment on posted articles about biography and memoir, responding to questions from the instructor and other students. Students will also post excerpts from their own writing and will respond to written reactions from the instructor and others enrolled in the class.

JWS 3950 CTRA - Jewish Humor
Engaging in scholarly discourse on humor is probably the surest way to actually not be funny. Still, in this course we will attempt to walk the fine line between scholarship and playfulness. In this course we consider the peculiar characteristics and unique elements of Jewish humor. This course investigates what makes a joke Jewish, employing multiple perspectives: topic (such as Holocaust, assimilation, God); attitude (such as sarcasm, gallows humor, overcoming oppression, self-deprecation); devices used (such as wordplay, Talmudic logic, Jewish or Scriptural references). Ancient Jewish humor from the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and the Midrash will also be studied, specifically, language-based humor, rhetorical questions, sarcasm, irony, arguing and generally conversing with God.

JWS 3950 ETRB – Conceptions of Evil (and Good)
This course analyzes and discusses philosophical, religious, and literary accounts of the nature of evil (and good). Issues to be discussed include: the origins or genealogy of ethical judgments; evil as determined objectively or subjectively; differences between philosophical and religious judgments of evil; the role of imagination in the history of evil and the composition of human nature; the determination of punishment in relation to evil; the history of evil-doing—evolutionary or static

LTS 3085 BTRA - US-Latin American Relations
News about issues ranging from the War on Drugs to undocumented migration reminds us of the importance of understanding the long historical relationship between Latin America and the United States. The course will examine how the United States engaged with Latin American countries in both constructive and conflicting ways beginning with both regions’ rocky emergence as post-colonial nations in the nineteenth century and continuing with Manifest Destiny, Gunboat Diplomacy, the Good Neighbor Policy, Cold War revolutions and coups, and concluding with current hemispheric debates about drugs, trade, and environment. We will focus on how the United States, often confident of its political, economic, and cultural superiority, sought to influence Latin America. We will also examine how Latin Americans rejected, influenced, or modified these efforts and affected change in the United States. Students will complete two take-home writing assignments, a final exam, and smaller in-class presentations and discussions about weekly topics and current events.

LTS 3085 URA - The Urban Education of Blacks and Latinos in New York and Abroad
A survey of sociological, psychological, and educational needs and experiences of urban Black and Latino children in New York City schools. Special emphasis will be given to family, gender, race relations, community living, and other social dynamics of this group. Practical experience and research will be a part of this course.

NMA 3041 HTRA - Making it Work: Design, Photography and Art as Social Practice
Some artists, designers and photographers create projects that crossover into the public and/or social realm. These critical interventions are often created with a specific audience in mind or are meant to inspire debate and/or catalyze social exchange. The course is project-based: all students will participate in the development of viable projects that deal with issues important to the common good. Students will be introduced to the work of artists and designers whose practice is in part or whole involved with social practice. The course can be applied as an elective toward the Graphic Communication major or minor as well as the Photography or NMA minors.

PSY 3042 MFA -
Forensic Psychology
Forensic Psychology is the professional and scientific study of psychology in the context of issues pertaining to the law or legal questions. Contemporary incidents of violence often leave people asking about the perpetrators mental health functioning, rendering the undeniable importance of forensic psychology. Forensic psychologists have proven that this practice is an irreplaceable asset to our community safety and system of justice. The primary focus of this course is to review current forensic psychology issues and Family Court, Criminal Court (State cases), and Federal Court cases. Additional components of this specialty course include reviews of landmark clinical forensic case studies and a trip to the Court.

PSY 9786 UMA - Leadership and Managerial Development
This course provides students with an overview of leadership in work organizations and how such talent is developed. A focus is placed on conceptual and theoretical foundations as well as practical issues and applications. Through lectures, discussions, projects, and case studies, students will develop insight into effective self-assessment and self-management, managing interpersonal interactions, situational analysis, and strategic planning to develop a leadership mindset.

PSY 9786 URA - Strategy and Its Implications for HRM
This course introduces students to the concept of strategy and its practical applications in organizational HRM settings to optimize workforce value and contributions. A focus is placed on how to think systematically and strategically about managing the organization’s human assets and how to develop and implement policies and programs which achieve competitive advantage. Through readings, projects, case studies and discussions, students will develop insight into aligning human resource practices with the strategies and objectives of the organization, identifying the HR levers in the development of an effective HRM system, and recognizing how organizations and their strategies have succeeded or failed at optimizing the potential of their workforces.

PSY 9786 U TA - Interpersonal Skills in Organizations
In today's service oriented, knowledge-and information- focused, global marketplace interpersonal skills are essential. The need to focus on improving interpersonal skills is increasingly emphasized by professional schools as well as the corporate world. The course will offer a balance between theory and application. Students will benefit from having a conceptual background on the topic of interpersonal skills along with practical information and skill development that can be applied immediately to personal and work life. Units will include Interpersonal Effectiveness: Understanding & Working with Others, Understanding & Working in Teams, Leading Individuals & Groups. Verbal communication, listening, persuading, and working with diverse teams will be some of the skills applied in the context of managerial roles in organizations.

PSY 9786 UWA - Group Psychology and Organizational Systems
The course is designed to increase behavioral understanding at the individual, group, intergroup and organizational level. Methods of instruction include: semi-structured experiential exercises and assignments, focused observation, self-disclosure, targeted readings and short lectures. Strong emphasis is placed on attendance, participation and reflection. The course is rooted in the belief that increased awareness improves leadership and followership and that to work most effectively within organizations, one must have an awareness of the self and the self within the system. One important note about this course - we will be discussing difficult topics that are often not explicitly raised in organizational settings. These include conversations about group identities such as race, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation and etc. Maintaining respect for all class members, including the instructor, is paramount.

PHI 3990 ETRA – Conceptions of Evil (and Good)
This course analyzes and discusses philosophical, religious, and literary accounts of the nature of evil (and good). Issues to be discussed include: the origins or genealogy of ethical judgments; evil as determined objectively or subjectively; differences between philosophical and religious judgments of evil; the role of imagination in the history of evil and the composition of human nature; the determination of punishment in relation to evil; the history of evil-doing—evolutionary or static.

REL 3085 CTRA - Jewish Humor
Engaging in scholarly discourse on humor is probably the surest way to actually not be funny. Still, in this course we will attempt to walk the fine line between scholarship and playfulness. In this course we consider the peculiar characteristics and unique elements of Jewish humor. This course investigates what makes a joke Jewish, employing multiple perspectives: topic (such as Holocaust, assimilation, God); attitude (such as sarcasm, gallows humor, overcoming oppression, self-deprecation); devices used (such as wordplay, Talmudic logic, Jewish or Scriptural references). Ancient Jewish humor from the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and the Midrash will also be studied, specifically, language-based humor, rhetorical questions, sarcasm, irony, arguing and generally conversing with God.

REL 3085 ETRA – Conceptions of Evil (and Good)
This course analyzes and discusses philosophical, religious, and literary accounts of the nature of evil (and good). Issues to be discussed include: the origins or genealogy of ethical judgments; evil as determined objectively or subjectively; differences between philosophical and religious judgments of evil; the role of imagination in the history of evil and the composition of human nature; the determination of punishment in relation to evil; the history of evil-doing—evolutionary or static.SOC 3085 CTRA - Jewish Humor
Engaging in scholarly discourse on humor is probably the surest way to actually not be funny. Still, in this course we will attempt to walk the fine line between scholarship and playfulness. In this course we consider the peculiar characteristics and unique elements of Jewish humor. This course investigates what makes a joke Jewish, employing multiple perspectives: topic (such as Holocaust, assimilation, God); attitude (such as sarcasm, gallows humor, overcoming oppression, self-deprecation); devices used (such as wordplay, Talmudic logic, Jewish or Scriptural references). Ancient Jewish humor from the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud and the Midrash will also be studied, specifically, language-based humor, rhetorical questions, sarcasm, irony, arguing and generally conversing with God.

SOC 3085 URA - The Urban Education of Blacks and Latinos in New York and Abroad
A survey of sociological, psychological, and educational needs and experiences of urban Black and Latino children in New York City schools. Special emphasis will be given to family, gender, race relations, community living, and other social dynamics of this group. Practical experience and research will be a part of this course.